Wedding industry businesses tie knot on new association
Wedding-related business owners on Vancouver Island are organizing to better represent what they say is an undervalued, thriving industry.
“There is a lot of money being brought to the Island because there are an amazing amount of weddings here,” said Laura Kalcsa from West Coast Weddings magazine, which features local nuptials and vendors.
“But there hasn’t been anyone representing this boost to the economy here or connecting the businesses,” she said.
This is why Kalcsa and several other business owners who produce the Vancouver Island Wedding Awards event each fall decided to form a non-profit association this year.
“The hope is having a public voice, with government, tourism, the chamber, will help us,” Kalcsa.
The awards honour local talent and draw up to 250 attendees from a pool of about 1,000 vendors on the Island, she said.
Anne Pollock, a wedding planner and party rental business owner in the Cowichan Valley, was elected the first president of the newly-formed Vancouver Island Wedding Industry Association.
“One of our first goals is to bring the wedding industry together and support each other professionally,” said Pollock. “The Island is ripe for that. There really isn’t a lot here in terms of learning and development.”
Pollock said it will also be important to find or help create a picture of what the local industry looks like, such as wedding statistics and economic impact.
“Part of having a professional status is being able to communicate with governments about the value in doing that,” she said.
There are some statistics available and Pollock, as well as other industry leaders, can deduce general ideas about economic impact.
“I think you can generally say first-time wedding couples will spend about $350 per guest, which is $35,000 for a 100-guest modest wedding,” she said, noting there’s a wide range that includes more millennials holding budget weddings under $20,000 and others that are closer to $100,000.
According to B.C Vital Statistics, about 20 per cent of B.C. marriages take place on Vancouver Island. This adds up to about 4,000 per year for the past five years, which multiplied by Pollock’s estimates, is about $140 million each year.
“That doesn’t include Americans who have done the paperwork at home, but have the wedding here, or what the guests spend,” said Pollock.
Some of the recent Vancouver Island wedding trends might provide more insight.
“For Islanders, there’s a good chance you’ll travel outside your locale for the wedding. Like if you live in Victoria, you might get married in Cowichan Valley or Tofino,” she said. “Also, wedding vacation packages are popular.”
She said it’s common for guests and the wedding party to book into a resort for a few days and take advantage of wine tours, golfing and spas.
“Pretty much everybody who travels here goes whale-watching up and down the Island,” she said.
Fewer marriages are taking place in churches and community halls, with more couples opting for social-media worthy outdoor locations and personal touches. Pollock said the single most popular spot is Hatley Castle at Royal Roads University and a range of beach and wooded locations are always in high demand.
“It’s the West Coast fantasy wedding, with the trees, forest and ocean. It’s perfect for that here,” she said, noting couples come from all over Canada and the U.S. to get married on the Island. Some like to add local touches to their ceremonies, such as a trained raptor to deliver the rings, craft beer tasting or driftwood arches.
This has inspired a crop of creative new businesses opportunities, including a pair of seafood aficionados from Victoria who operate a pop-up oyster bar called the Wandering Mollusk.
“We really built this business for weddings and we do a phenomenal amount,” said Jess Taylor, who started the boutique catering service with his friend Sean Roberts in 2014.
The pair worked at an oyster bar in Vancouver years ago and partnered when Taylor later moved to Victoria and saw an underserved oyster scene. Taylor said they source their oysters from a Salt Spring Island company and make their own mignonettes.
Most often, they set up a bar and start shucking oysters after the wedding ceremony and before the dinner reception. Taylor said the art of serving oysters makes it a social and entertaining part of the event.
“You inject a bit more life into it and get things started more than an open bar would,” he said. “Even people who don’t like oysters get involved because they’re talking about it and engaged.”
Taylor said they can do up to three weddings a day in the summer and shift their focus to office parties, festivals and pop-ups in the fall. He hadn’t heard of the Vancouver Island Wedding Industry Association but thinks it’s a good idea.